Sheep and lambs

I heard this poem today during general conference and loved it. I told my kids as we watched that we are going to memorize it. Or at least I am. 

'Twas a sheep not a lamb that strayed away
In the parable Jesus told,
A grown up sheep that had gone astray
From the ninety and nine in the fold.

Out on the hillside, out in the cold, 
'Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd sought
And back to the flock, safe into the fold
'Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd brought.

And why for the sheep should we earnestly long
And as earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger if they go wrong
They will lead the lambs astray.

For the lambs will follow the sheep, you know, 
Wherever the sheep may stray
When the sheep go wrong it will not be long
Til the lambs are as wrong as they.

And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today
If a sheep is lost, what a terrible cost
Some lamb will have to pay.

("The Echo," C. C. Miller, quoted in Hugh B. Brown, The Abundant Life [1965], 166­67)